Refocusing ineffective team members/employees is the third of the four Rs of which I’ve been writing.  Once you’ve expended time and energy resourcing and retraining your employee with no success, it is time to refocus them. This means you will take the time necessary to find a place within your organization that his passions and talents can be used with effectiveness.  

When you get to this point in managing an ineffective team member, it can be extremely discouraging to you, the manager, and to other team members.  This is because you are spending an unusual amount of time and energy with the ineffective employee.  The successful, high-functioning team members could get disgruntled because they are not receiving your time and attention.  So be sure to keep all your team encouraged through personal interaction and meaningful, forward-focused team meetings.  As well, be sure to determine the amount of time your ineffective employee will get from you.  Too much time could have negative consequences.  Not enough time could send the message that you are simply trying to get rid of him.

As well, if your employee has been there for any length of time he has made friends.  Be prepared to handle questions and even anger resulting from the decision of refocusing the employee.  Some may never understand and feel that you manipulated the situation to get rid of a person that you didn’t personally like.  Working in an environment where tough decisions have to be made and sometimes not understood by others is part of leadership.

Once you’ve arrived at the time you will spend with the unsuccessful team member, lock onto the following:

Do

• Take time to explore the strengths, passions and motivations of your team member
• Encourage the employee to craft a new resume which reflects a more appropriate objective given his/her strengths, passions, and motivations
• Investigate other work environments in which the employee could be effective
• Talk with the supervisor of those areas to get their feedback and their approval before recommending the employee to that position or area (you don’t want other supervisors upset at you!)

Don’t

• Assume the employee will find a place within your organization and never make a promise to that end
• Allow the employee to spread negativity on our team or any other team if disconcerted about your choice (this may be reason for immediate dismissal)
• Underestimate the power—negatively or positively—or your decision
• Underestimate the need for ongoing communication with employee and about employee to previous team.  An healthy team will be achieved only through genuine, forthright and optimistic communication.

Sometimes, however, it is simply impossible to retain an employee.  This occurs when the first three Rs are pursued with no positive result.  This leads to the final R—retire.  We’ll look at this in the final part of this series.